Sex Harassment Game Is Over

November 29, 1990|By Teal

In fining the New England Patriots and three of their players thousands of dollars, NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue sent a strong signal that professional football won't tolerate sexual harassment in the locker room. Good.

The fines stemmed from an incident Sept. 17, when Boston Herald reporter Lisa Olson was trying to interview a player in the locker room after a Patriots' game. In other words, she was just trying to do her job. But according to people interviewed in the investigation, a naked Zeke Mowatt ''purposely displayed himself in a suggestive way'' to Ms. Olson while several other players egged him on.

Mr. Mowatt denies any wrongdoing, but even the Patriots' media relations director confirmed Mr. Mowatt's role in this. In fact, Mr. Tagliabue took the action after 91 people were interviewed for the investigation.

After more than a decade of having women reporters in locker rooms - with the blessing of the courts - the Patriots' childish shenanigans went beyond poor taste. They were repulsive. Even worse, Patriots owner Victor Kiam did virtually nothing to ensure they wouldn't happen again.

Fortunately, the commissioner didn't put the whole burden on the players involved. He also fined the Patriots' management $50,000, and required that half that money be spent toward some counseling on how to deal with reporters. Maybe that can lead to some productive thinking by Patriots management.

Certainly players deserve some privacy to shower and change after a game, but other teams have managed to offer that privacy while still allowing access to reporters. Whether male or female, reporters should be able to compete on equal footing for the same story.

You can balance privacy with access. For instance, why not allow reporters to go to the locker room right after a game for, say, 25 minutes to interview players? After that, all reporters could be barred for a while to give the players time to change in private.

The point is that football needs the media to get the word out to its fans as much as the media need access to the players. If the Patriots can't balance privacy with access, then the NFL should do it for them.